The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-03-24

20 Stlll iurtHor,S anu say 10 you IudG
those men play the. fool who undertake to
pay out eternity fo;s time. How little care
do we bestow uIson the railroad depot
where we stop twenty minutes to dine.
We dash in and DISH out again. We do
not examine the architecture of the build
ing, nor the face OF the caterer. Wesup-
ply our hun ger, We pay our money and
we put on our hat land take our place in
the train. What IL that depot compared
with the place for which we are
bounda Now, my friends, this world is
only q stopping place on the way to mo-
mentous destination, and yet how many of
us sit down as though we had consum-
mated our journey, as though we had
come to the finali depot, when stopping
there as is twenty sninutes to twelve hours
yea, as the one-leindredth part of sec
ond compared win ten thousand mi lion
yearsa Would ST ain sell us Cuba for a
bushel of wheat2 Would England sell US
India for ton of coall Would Venice sell
us all her pictures for an American
school-boy's sketch! ALL that would be a
better bargain for England, Spain and
Venice than that man makes 4vho gives his
eternity for time. Yet how many there
are who are saying to-day:
s'Give me the worlds dollars and you
may have the eternal rewards. Give me
the worlds applause and you may have
the garlands of God. Give me twenty or
forty or sixty years of worldly successes,
and Idon't care what becomes of the fu-
ture. l am going into that world uuin-
sured. I take the responsibility. Don't
bother me aboutyour religion. Here Ihave
the two worlds before me-thls one and
the next l have chosen this. Go away
from me- God and angels, and all thoughts
of the future!'
But where is Cresus, and Cleopatra,
and Aesopas, who had one dish of food
that cost sl,400, 900; and Lentulus, who
had pound of food worth Sl75, O30; and
Scaurus, who bought country seat for
$50 orc, 900; and Tiberius, who left at death
a fortune of Sl1S, 100000 Where are theys
If a windy day should blow all the dust
that is left of them into your eyes it would
not make you wink twice. All, my friends.
then very certainly your comforts of sur
rounding can not keep back the old
archer. You can not charm him with
music, or dazzle him with plate, or decoy
him with pictures, or bribe him with your
money.
which you can not kept As long as you
have clothes and food and shelter, an
education for yourselves and your chill
dren, and the means for Christian gen.
erosity, be satisfied. You worry, and
ug, and sweat, and wear yourself out for
that which can not satisfy: whole fiocks
of crows feet on your temples and cheeks
before they ought to have come there.
Y0n ten QlHQr ft,o x,o, 10
be, and yet you can not take along with
you int the future world even the two
pennies on your eyelids to keep them shut
after you are dead. And yet you hold on
to this world with the avidity Of the miser
who persisted in having his bonds and
and notes of hand in the bosom
of his dressing-gown while he was dying,
and in the last moment held his parch-
ment in such tight grip that the under
taker after death must almost break the
mans fingers in order to get the bonds
away.
Men are actually making that choice,
while there are others who have done far
When they tried to bride
with money Martin Luther, some one said:
There's no use trying to do that-that
Dutch beast cares nothing for gold"
When they tried by giving him cardin-
aPs hat to bride Savonarola, he stood up
in his pulpit and cried out:
81 Will have no red hat save that of
martyrdom, colored with my own Blood
These men chose Christ amid great per-
solutions; but how many there are in this
day, when Christianity seems to be popu-
lar, who are ashamed of Christ and not
willing to take the hardships-the seem
ing hardships-of his religionl And alas
for them! for long after the crash of the
world s emoltion they shall find that i'll all
these years they were turning their backs
upon the palaces of Heaven, scrabbling
on the door of this worlds treasure house,
the saliva of a terrific lunacy on their lips
horribly and overwhelmingly playing
the fool.
Once more say to you that those men
play the fool who. while they admit the
of religion, set it down for
future attendance. Do you know how
many times the word ''nov" occurs in the
Bible: Over 200 times. One of the short
est words in the Bible, and yet one of the
grandest in meaning and ranlifcations.
When does the Bible say is the best time
to repent! Now. When does the Bible say
that God will forgivea Now. When does
God say is the only safe time to attend to
matters of the souls Now. But that word
now melts away as easily as a snow
hake in the evening rain. Where is the
now of the dead of last years the s'now''
of the dead of last month"; the ssnow'' of
the dead of last weeke t he ssnow'' of the
dead of yesterday. Time picked it up in
its baak and flew away with it.
greet you to-day, my brother, in the
very gate of eternity. Some of us may
live longer, and some of US may live
shorter, time; but, at the longest. life is
so short that l feel we all stand on the
door-sill of the great future. The next
step-all the angels of God can not undo
the consequences. Will your exit from
this life be rising or falllnga The
righteous go up. The Saviour helps them.
spirits meet them. The doors
1f paradise open to receive them Upi
npl up! 0, what grand thing it is to
lie with strong faith in God, like that
which Stonewall jackson had when, in his
expiring moments, he said:
sLet US cross over the river, and lie
Town under the shade"
But to leave this world unpreparedly is
from God, falling from
aope, falling from peace, falling from
Heaven-swiftly falling, wildly falling,
forever falling.
Awake, man! awake, woman from the
Dhantasia, real or affected. Take Christ.